As someone who’s worked extensively with Telegram bots, I can tell you that getting the file_id is actually quite straightforward. When you upload a file using methods like sendPhoto or sendDocument, the API response contains the file_id. You just need to parse this response.
In my experience, using a library like python-telegram-bot makes this process much easier. After sending the file, you can extract the file_id from the returned object. For instance, with photos, it’s usually response.photo[-1].file_id.
One tip: always store these file_ids once you’ve got them. They’re permanent and can save you a lot of bandwidth by allowing you to resend files without re-uploading. Just remember, file_ids are bot-specific, so you can’t use them across different bots.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you need any clarification on the implementation.